THE
SPIRITUAL DIMENSION
By Walter Last
In order to become more whole and healed
on all levels of our being we need to improve ourselves on all of these levels.
Complete healing is not possible by working on just one level. As an example,
assume that you are badly overweight. Mustering a lot of willpower you start a
diet and are quite successful in losing a sizeable amount of weight. The
problem is that after some months it slowly creeps back up again and after a
year your weight is again where it started.
Eventually you come across some
emotional release workshops and find that these, together with a sensible diet,
are more effective to lose weight and keep it off. Nevertheless, you may find
it difficult to keep your emotions under control because you still continue to
react in undesirable ways. Now you discover that you are influenced by various
negative beliefs that make life difficult for you.
You realize that you need an appropriate belief system in order to
manage your emotions in an appropriate way. You start looking for a philosophy
of life that helps you to become and remain healthy, happy and fit. This is
where the spiritual dimension comes in. You will find that the more you adopt
spiritual principles in your life, the more life will become an adventure or a
pleasure rather than a struggle.
More than any
other level, our emotions determine how we feel about ourselves and life in
general. Our emotions are not only a result of our social interactions, but
also of so-called higher and lower levels of energy and consciousness. On the
lower level we have the influences of nutrition, exercise and other lifestyle
factors, while from the higher level there is a strong effect from our belief
system.
To give an example
we may look at the perception of death. If someone believes that after death he
is likely to end up in something like hell as described in some religions, he
may inwardly panic at the thought of impending death. Even for an atheist the
thought of total annihilation may be frightening. On the other hand someone who
believes that life after death is more pleasant than that on earth may look
forward to the time of death with eager anticipation. The fact of death remains
the same for all but our emotional response to it is conditioned by our belief.
Most of us have developed our belief
systems haphazardly from our parents, school and social contacts as well as
books and mass media. These beliefs are often irrational and detrimental for
us.
In order to heal our emotions, as
well as all other levels of our being it is essential to adopt a suitable
philosophy of life to guide us in this quest. I call this a spiritual
philosophy. The various religions appear to have different spiritual
philosophies. These differences are most pronounced at the mental level of
dogmas and doctrines, while they tend to disappear at the level of the highest
ideals of each religion.
In all major religions some
followers have aimed for these highest ideals. They are the mystics who left us
in their writings a spiritual philosophy that transcends and unites all
religions.
WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY
The concept of spirituality
obviously means different things to different people. In this book it means
deliberately manifesting or aspiring to manifest a higher and purer
consciousness. We do this by consciously developing the attributes of true
spirituality such as compassion, discernment, faith, high ideals, harmony, joy,
inner knowledge, intuition, kindness, openness, patience, self-responsibility,
serenity, tolerance, wisdom and a gentle love for All That Is.
Being spiritual is not the same as
being religious, which involves following the creed of a proclaimed religion.
Someone may be spiritual without being religious and vice versa. Those who are
religious become spiritual by following the highest ideals of their religion,
while those without a religion follow their own highest ideals and their higher
guidance. On the higher levels of consciousness true religion and spirituality
merge.
In Christian terms, for instance, we
are advised to 'seek first the kingdom of heaven' and all else will be given
onto us. In spiritual terms this means to seek first and follow our higher
guidance to manifest the signs of true spirituality. Then we can expect health
and happiness to result as a natural by-product.
Spiritual development should not be
confused with psychic development. Psychic abilities are no measure of
spirituality. However, psychic abilities will develop on their own and in a
natural way during spiritual awakening according to the need for their use.
While neither good nor bad in themselves, psychic abilities without
spirituality are like nuclear power without morality; both can lead to
disaster.
Neither is spiritual development a
quest for altered states of consciousness, though these may occur as natural
by-products of deep relaxation and meditation. They can be useful and may
provide us with insights as well as beautiful and uplifting inner experiences.
However, our main task is at the level of our normal consciousness, and such
inner experiences at elevated levels need to be transformed into improved daily
living habits.
We become more spiritual by living
according to our highest ideals, and by consciously improving our attitudes and
feelings. Every moment in our day-to-day interactions provides an opportunity
to become more spiritual. We are aided in this endeavor by asking for help from
the highest guiding part of our consciousness, which we may call the Higher
Self or in Christian terms the Holy Spirit.
THE STRUCTURE OF MANIFESTATION
In the following I like to show an
outline of the theoretical basis of our spirituality as I see it. Starting at
the most fundamental level, I regard consciousness as the basic ingredient of
everything in existence. We may compare consciousness to air, which may be
compressed to varying degrees of density in containers of different shapes and
sizes. In a similar way, consciousness becomes compressed and may then
aggregate to form more complex structures.
Different densities accumulate at
separate levels to form an additional dimension based on density of
consciousness. I call this the dimension of ‘space-density’. A
certain density produces atomic and subatomic particles, while lesser and
lesser degrees of density manifest as etheric energy, bio-energy or prana, as
feelings and emotional energy, as mental energy and thought forms and finally
as spiritual awareness. All of these represent different space-densities that
may interpenetrate each other to occupy the same three-dimensional space.
Therefore, there is no fundamental
difference between the consciousness of an atom and that of a human it is only
a difference in complexity and range of densities. With this, the universe is
basically a structure of consciousness acting on itself. Less dense fields of
consciousness build, change, discard and rebuild forms from denser fields of
consciousness in order to experience and express themselves. The main activity
of consciousness is creativity; its highest manifestation on our planet is
unconditional love.
We may assume two streams of
consciousness. The 'stream of creation' leads towards greater density and less
complexity to form atomic particles and the physical universe, while the
'stream of evolution' flows from dense towards less dense structures with
greater complexity towards the spiritual universe.
As part of the stream of evolution,
consciousness uses the various life forms like water is using a riverbed to
flow to the ocean. A life form, be it a species or an individual form is useful
only as long as it allows the consciousness to flow through freely and expand.
If rigidity develops and consciousness becomes stagnant, then the form has
reached old age and will soon disintegrate.
Physics cannot adequately and
logically answer the question how all the energy and mass of our universe could
have been concentrated in a single point at the start of the 'Big Bang' and
what was before. A spiritual theory of creation would say that originally there
was no energy at the physical level, that it emerged instead from the etheric
level, not so much as an explosion but rather like the crystallization of a
super-saturated liquid starting from a seed point. Likewise, it answers also
the question of the origin of consciousness that biology cannot answer.
According to this model, our
physical universe is a condensation of a less dense etheric universe. Atomic
particles are the centers of etheric vortexes, comparable to atmospheric high
and low pressure areas. For a more detailed explanation see 'The Science of Spirituality'.
PLANETARY EVOLUTION
I see the evolution of consciousness
on our planet as a multi-dimensional cooperative venture. Consciousness in the
form of the growth force is most active in the plant kingdom and works to
transform the mineral kingdom.
In the animal kingdom consciousness
becomes dominant at the level of feelings and emotions,
it is at this level where most of the experimentation and creativity is
present. The emotional level channels the growth force into more individualized
forms than those in the plant kingdom. A price for this individualization is a
more solidified growth force with less regenerative capacity.
Insects are close to plants with
only rudimentary feelings, while primates and possibly dolphins are closest to
the humans with highly evolved complex feelings. Similar to the evolution in
the plant kingdom, which leads to the beginning of feelings in the highest
plant species, so the higher animal species acquire a rudimentary capacity for
thinking.
By having their emotional energies
guided with the help of the emerging mental level, the animal kingdom
culminates with the primates channeling their life-force into a nearly perfect
form for our planetary conditions. With this, the planetary evolution of the
growth force has been further completed and humanity works now on the
perfection of the emotional level with the help of the mental level. We use
beliefs to experiment with our emotions.
The animal kingdom required a
rudimentary mental level in order for the growth force to be channeled into a
perfect form by the emotional level. In a similar way, we humans need a level
of consciousness beyond the mental level to perfect our emotions. We call this
next higher level 'spiritual consciousness'. It evolves through the programming
of our higher mentality by the incarnated soul. We may regard our different and
evolving group belief systems as the human equivalent of different animal
species.
THE NATURE OF GOD
The concept of God can be defined in
two ways. We may equate God with consciousness and say God is everything. The
consciousness manifested in the various universes, the physical, etheric and so
forth up to the spiritual universe are the energy bodies of God, while the
non-manifested part might be called the mind of God.
Alternatively, we may only regard
the non-manifested universal consciousness as God and this may or may not be
focused into what we may regard as a personified being at certain levels of
consciousness. For the evolution of our own consciousness the details of what
we believe is God do not matter very much at this stage. As part of a spiritual
philosophy we may simply assume that the more consciousness becomes condensed,
the less it is aware, especially of being a part of God or All That Is.
I see the Oversoul as the creator of
our soul and as our personal God or God Self, our individualized representative
of the universal aspect of God. Any communication from this more or less divine
level can reach our normal human consciousness only by penetrating our mental
and emotional levels. These, however, act as filters that will distort and
interpret any messages according to our beliefs and emotions.
Therefore, a devout Catholic will
receive messages clothed in Catholic symbols, while a Hindu will experience
divine revelations according to his religious beliefs. The less strong and structured
our beliefs are the less will any higher communication be
distorted. The more we expand our consciousness, the closer we are to this
higher guidance and the easier it will be to communicate. Disbelief, on the
other hand, will block any communication.
A SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY
A spiritual philosophy is our basic
belief system about the nature of our existence, about its purpose and goal.
From this we try to understand our role in society as well as our relationship with
any higher or guiding forces, and it gives us the
inner strength to follow the spiritual path. Everyone has a philosophy of life,
even if they are not consciously aware of it. For some this is just the notion
to get as much pleasure as possible out of life while trying to avoid
suffering. Others, like various Christian saints and yogi, have deliberately
self-inflicted suffering and denied themselves pleasures as part of their
philosophy and as a path to their God.
To have a spiritual philosophy means
to see ourselves as part of a higher purpose, of a universal blueprint, and we
consciously try to cooperate with its unfolding and manifestation. A good
spiritual philosophy needs to give us guidance and support on the spiritual
path and in our daily interactions and relationships.
In the same way that we can
deliberately choose to believe in and follow a certain religion or political
party, we can also deliberately adopt a spiritual philosophy that exactly suits
our purpose. Normally, this adopted philosophy can be in harmony with our
present religion or political views. Just look for the highest ideals and
replace any negative aspects with positive beliefs.
The center point of any philosophy
of life is the question of meaning or purpose. If we see no specific purpose in
life and especially in our own life, then it is quite natural to live for the
sake of sense and ego gratification, but we also may easily become depressed by
the apparent lack of deeper meaning of it all. In a spiritual philosophy we
believe in a higher purpose. We may not know the exact nature of this purpose
and it may not even matter. We may say we just want to manifest our own
blueprint, or fulfill the purpose for which we
incarnated, or just trying to do God's will, or becoming one with God. It may
all be the same anyway.
By now you may be rather
apprehensive. Basically all you want is to be healthy, have a good life, some
fun and generally feel fulfilled and satisfied. You do not want to become a
mystic or a saint to achieve this. Luckily, you do not need to. I just painted
the big picture to show in which direction we generally have to move. How fast
you want to move is entirely up to you.
The Middle Path
The important part is to move in the
right direction, however slowly. Suffering comes from moving in the wrong
direction, no matter how far advanced we are spiritually. The saint will suffer
if he moves in the wrong direction, and the sinner will feel good if he moves
in the right direction. That is what it is all about, the right direction.
Indeed, this is a middle path
between pleasure-seeking and intentional or unintentional self-inflicted
suffering. In this it is like the path of the Buddha. For a long time, the
Buddha tried to reach enlightenment through extreme asceticism. He fasted until
where he had been sitting he left a mark like the footprint of a camel.
Finally, he realized that he was on the wrong path, that he needed his body as
a partner and, therefore, had to fulfill its legitimate biological needs, he
had to be firm but kind to it. He called this the middle path, and many seekers
after him found it to be the right path for them.
In the same way, our spiritual
philosophy should help us to feel good in body as well as in mind and spirit.
Suffering is only for the ego. If instead we identify more and more with the
spirit or our higher self, then life will be correspondingly easier and more
fun - at least that is what we start out believing and wonder
whether it will turn out to be true.
Our basic premise is that we attract
or become what we believe in. Assuming that the universe contains all
possibilities, all shades of good and bad, right and wrong, desirable and
undesirable, it is so much more attractive to believe in a benevolent universe
than in a vindictive one, in a God of love rather than a God to fear. This
spiritual philosophy of the middle path says that we can choose and have what
we want, we just must firmly believe in what we want and act accordingly.
However, there is a catch. We must
be careful what we choose and from which level of our consciousness we choose.
If we let our ego choose, we generally choose wrong. This means we choose
something selfish for which we have to pay later. If the ego chooses pleasure
now, we will suffer later to pay for it.
If, on the other hand, we let
ourselves be guided by our highest ideals and the inner voice of our higher
guidance, then we will choose a path that leads us to gradually increasing and
lasting happiness, without having to pay for it with later suffering.
The simplest and safest choice is
that we want to fulfill the purpose for which we incarnated and just want to do
the will of God. Of course, we do not really know our purpose or the will of
God; at least not consciously with our mind. The good thing is that we do not
need to know, we just can let ourselves be guided step by step, one step at a
time, by listening to our spiritual guidance or by following our highest
ideals. This is called 'living by faith' or 'going with the flow'.
Awakening the Inner Christ
Gradually, this living by faith will
allow an inner seed of the divine to awaken and grow within us. Like a
hologram, this seed is a miniature reflection of God and the universe. Fully
developed, this seed will become the risen Christ. We will then live in the
Christ and the Christ within us. This is the promise of those who know.
Expressed somewhat differently, we
may say that we, as a living soul, now have become the perfect vehicle for our
High Self or Christ Self. The Christ Self can then begin to manifest the will of
the God Self, the 'Father'. Like Jesus, who became the Christ, we can then say:
"I and the Father are one."
We may actually see the life of
Jesus as a symbolic enactment of the inner journey that we are all sooner or
later called to perform. The crucifixion symbolizes the death of our ego, and
the resurrection, the birth and ascendancy of the inner Christ. By becoming the
Christ we have finally redeemed our original sin - our separation from God.
I also have a different
interpretation to religious doctrines that regard the human aspect of Jesus as
the Son of God. Instead I regard the Christ who arose in Jesus as 'the only Son
of God'. I understand that Jesus generally referred to himself as 'the Son of
Man' rather than 'the Son of God'.
We awaken and nourish the Christ
within by building a spiritual body composed of a higher emotional body and a
higher mental body. This we do in a similar way to building a biological body
from the food we eat, by building an emotional body from our feelings and
emotions or a mental body by constructing belief systems with thoughts and
ideas.
The nutrients we need for our
spiritual body are spiritual feelings and spiritual thinking. With spiritual
feelings, such as devotion, unselfish love, compassion, inner peace and divine bliss
we build a higher emotional body. This combines with a higher mental body that
we build through spiritual thinking with high ideals, pure motives, a spiritual
philosophy, discernment and spiritual knowledge. This spiritual body or light
body allows our High Self or Christ Self to fuse more and more with the soul so
that the soul eventually becomes an expression of the Christ. This is the same
principle that previously caused the personality to become an expression of the
soul.
Stated in a different way, we may
also regard the Christ Self as the Inner Master. With this fusion of soul and
Christ Self, the personality of the soul can now be expressed as a spiritual
master. However, this expression is still limited by being channeled through a
biological brain. After discarding the biological body, the Christ
consciousness is then able to express itself much more freely as an Ascended
Master.
If we look much further into the
future, then we may assume that the Christ Self will eventually merge with the
God Self. With this, the 'I AM' that originally started out building itself a
personality to become a living soul and eventually an Ascended Master, will now
have returned to its source and become a God.
In this process we see the two
opposing forces that keep the Wheel of Life turning. One is the individualizing
tendency of the I AM, its ego, which prompts it to
build a body and acquire its separate identity, while the other is the unifying
tendency or the Christ principle, which compels it to return to its source.
THE
You may sometimes wonder how all the
different spiritual and religious beliefs, often contradicting each other, can
possibly lead to the same goal. Surely, only one can be true. But then consider
the following parable.
Imagine that different points of the
compass represent different beliefs. There is a high mountain with a brightly
shining light on top, marking the goal for countless climbers on all sides of
the mountain. Those who are on opposite sides of the mountain actually walk and
climb in opposite directions of the compass needle and yet they all progress
towards the same light.
Below the climbers there are an even
greater number of seekers who do not see the light itself, but believe in its
existence because of what some of the temporarily returned climbers have told
them. Groups of seekers follow some of the more experienced climbers back up
the mountain. These are those who seriously follow a particular religion or
spiritual leader.
Finally, the great majority of
people live in the jungle surrounding the mountain without even seeing the
mountain itself. Those living close to it know of it but generally do not move
much closer to it. These are the uncommitted followers of various religious
beliefs. Those far away from the mountain do not even know of it or believe in
its existence.
The active climbers who actually see
the light are those well advanced on the spiritual path. They all start from
different positions. They may be on different levels and proceed in different directions
but they all move closer to the light.
REINCARNATION?
Expressed in Christian terms we may
say God, as the Father or Parent aspect of Divinity, created powerful spiritual
beings, the 'Children of God', as co-creators on the denser levels of consciousness.
In Christian terminology they are the 'Son' aspect of Divinity. Collectively
they created our own world. Some of these Children of God,
also called Monads or Oversouls, projected parts of
their consciousness into denser forms, to create Soul Families. Because of the
great difference in the levels of consciousness between an Oversoul and its
Souls, the High Self or Christ Self was created as a mediator between both. The
Souls eventually created even denser forms at the etheric level, which gradually
became the human races. They did this in order to experience more closely the
interactions of the various forms of life on earth.
However, Souls gradually became
entangled in the lower consciousness of their dense forms. In mystical
understanding this is the 'original sin', the 'fallen angel', the 'lost paradise'. In order to free itself from this
entanglement of part of its consciousness, the Soul, guided by the High Self
and the Oversoul, sends out successive projections with improved programming in
a chain of 'reincarnations'.
With each projection a new and
different personality is programmed, taking the experiences of the preceding
personalities into account. Therefore, from the point of view of a personality,
we cannot really say that we are reincarnations with former lives. This would
be as if a picture, painted by an artist, assumes that it has previously been
another picture, painted by the same artist. Instead, each picture is a unique
new creation.
With this, reincarnation as a
general principle applies to the Soul but not to the personality. There are,
however, exceptions. The American psychiatrist Ian Stevenson investigated and
published a series of cases that show conclusively a reincarnation of the same
personality with memories, birthmarks and injury marks directly from a
preceding life.
However, these cases involved
violent death at the prime of life before the programmed life task was
accomplished and immediate rebirth in a baby born at the time of death.
According to Tibetan tradition the Dalai Lama and some other important lamas
reincarnate in the same exceptional way.
After the separation from the
physical body that we call death, the personality remains individualized for a
further period, clothed in its astral or mental and emotional bodies. Finally
it is reabsorbed or reintegrated into the consciousness of its Soul as part of
our overall life-stream, and the Soul forms another projection.
Hypnotic regressions seem to
indicate that the incarnating Soul projection becomes only gradually attached
to the fetus. While it may be close to the mother already before conception and
guide the earliest development of the fetus, commonly it starts entering it
only during the second half of pregnancy. Even after birth it still continues
to fuse more closely with the baby.
The entanglement that keeps this
process going and from which the Soul tries to free itself, is called 'karma'.
This means a personality or its followers reap the consequences of its actions,
and even of thoughts and feelings. We reap what we as well as those before us
have sown. The deliberate attempt of a personality to free its Soul from karma
or entanglement of consciousness is called 'the spiritual path'.
VEGETARIANISM AND SPIRITUALITY
The ideal of vegetarianism especially in its relationship
to spirituality originated in
However,
our metabolism and food requirements have evolved according to our genetic
background. Those who originate from cold climates or have blood group O, or
have inherited or acquired a weak sugar metabolism, have non-vegetarian
requirements for optimal health. Often this involves quiet, sensitive
individuals with low blood pressure and a lack of energy. These may experience
a conflict between their body needs and their ideals. With the following
explanations I want to show that this conflict is not necessary.
Indians
have predominantly vegetarian body requirements. They must pacify mind and
emotions with plant food and may have great difficulties progressing
spiritually on a non-vegetarian diet. Most Christian mystics and saints, on the
other hand, were not vegetarians and neither was Jesus according to the Bible.
As stated in some scriptures, even the Buddha did not insist on a meatless
diet, only to abstain from the meat of carnivorous animals. Due to their cold
climate, Tibetan Buddhist monks were often non-vegetarians. All of this may
indicate that vegetarianism is not a prerequisite for spirituality.
However,
there is a relationship between vegetarianism and spirituality. Meat
makes body and feelings less sensitive, and meat-eaters with a slow metabolism
become more insensitive to higher energies and spiritual influences. Fruit, on
the other hand, has a beneficial cleansing and sensitizing influence on these
people. Nevertheless, those who are already too sensitive may become ungrounded
and open to unfavorable psychic influences on a fruitarian diet and even lose
touch with physical reality. Some flesh food will help these individuals to
'come back down to earth'.
For
those who aim mainly at dwelling in altered states of consciousness, preferably
under competent guidance, a fruit-rich vegetarian diet will be of great
assistance in loosening the ties between the physical body and its higher
vehicles. It may also make it easier to receive messages from the higher self
in the form of visions or voices.
However,
on the spiritual path greater psychic sensitivity is desirable only in
the context of a balanced development on all levels. Our main aim is to become
more spiritual in our daily interactions and in our normal state of
consciousness. The exploration of altered states of consciousness is only
secondary.
A
vegetarian diet is pacifying and, therefore, conducive to meditation and
contemplation, but it may leave some of us unable to work efficiently in this
world. Therefore, we must strike a balance in our diet selection between our
goals and our body condition. Generally speaking, the diet best suited for our
spiritual development is one that leads us towards optimal health.
We
do not become more spiritual, that means more loving, understanding and wiser
simply by being vegetarians, although compassion with the plight of farm
animals is a step in the right direction. However, our body requirements will
gradually change on the spiritual path as the body is transformed and we learn
to utilize higher forms of energy.
In this way, even those of the non-vegetarian body type will eventually
be able to maintain good health on a more or less vegetarian diet. The proper
path in this direction, however, is a diet that is in harmony with present body
requirements.
Gopi KRISHNA in his book 'Kundalini' gave a vivid account of his
long-time suffering, because his body was not strong enough for the tremendous
energy streams raging through his system. He finally realized that he could
only save his body and become well again by starting temporarily to eat some
meat.
Rolling
Thunder, a Red-Indian spiritual leader is a meat-eater and so was Edgar CAYCE
who said in essence: "Spiritualize these influences rather than abstain
from meat (for this particular body of the questioner). Not what goes into the
mouth but what comes out of it may defile the spiritual body."
While
cruelty to animals is often cited as a reason in favor of vegetarianism, those
who consume milk or eggs contribute to cruelty if they use eggs from battery
hens or milk from cows or goats that have been prematurely separated
from their offspring.
The
Animals' Point of View
Now
I want to consider the animals' side of the problem. That the animal eventually
will be killed obviously does not trouble it during its lifetime. If it were
not for human consumption, most farm animals would not have a chance to live in
the first place. If these animals had a free choice, most of them would probably
prefer to live and eventually being killed rather than not to live at all.
Actually, I am sure even many humans would prefer a quick death like that of a
humanely slaughtered farm animal as compared to the slow disintegration that
may await them with some of our degenerative diseases.
However,
what is decidedly wrong with our present system is that animals are commonly
raised under unnatural and degrading conditions and may meet their death in
fear and even terror. This is not necessary and only due to commercial
interests and the general indifference to the plight of farm animals. But this
often applies also to the production of milk and eggs that many vegetarians
use.
Therefore,
if animals are reared with loving care and in a natural way as it befits their
species, and then killed in a humane way, there does not need to be any
suffering for the animal. As Rolling Thunder explained it in
essence: "When I am going to shoot a deer, I know beforehand where I will
find it and also the animal knows that I am coming. But it is not
afraid, it is waiting for me and it does not suffer when I shoot it."
With
this, the animal actually sacrifices itself for a 'higher need'. We may regard
the killing of animals for human consumption as a sacrifice by the animal world,
as also we humans may sacrifice ourselves for some higher purpose, or as the
vegetable kingdom sacrifices part of itself for consumption by animals and
humans. Each kingdom evolves through this close contact with the next higher
one and by nourishing it.
Furthermore,
killing does not only pertain to animals. Also plants are living beings,
responding to love and hate. Therefore, the difference between killing a
cabbage, a fish or fowl, is only one of degree in the evolutionary chain.
Of
course, most people would be happier to kill a cabbage than an animal (with the
exception of insects and rodents). But I suggest that those who cannot function
very well as vegetarians should accept this sacrifice gracefully and without
guilt and in return work for a better deal for our animals. Nevertheless, it
may be in the best interest of spiritually minded individuals to minimize the
use of meat, especially from mammals, in preference to seafood. As our race
becomes more spiritual in the future and bodies change, vegetarianism will
become universal.
OUR SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION
Living spiritually is our
day-to-day, minute-to minute effort to live according to our spiritual beliefs.
Our body with all of its problems is an important partner in this quest. It
shows us where to start and what to do, helping us to become ever more
conscious of all aspects of ourselves.
Healing our body, mind and emotions
is in itself part of our spiritual evolution. Even if you do not otherwise
intend to live spiritually, you do so anyway by healing yourself on these
levels. There are many different definitions of what it means to live
spiritually or following the spiritual path, as you may have already noticed.
One of them sees it as our effort to develop our full potential of health and
happiness, starting with the body and the problems that we have right now.
I am convinced that by living in
total harmony with the biological, emotional, mental and spiritual laws that
govern us, we would be close to perfect; we would personify the risen Christ.
Therefore, all imperfections, usually manifesting as problems, show us what to
do to become more spiritual and, with this, more happy and fulfilled.
Starting at the biological level, we
may have a health problem, possibly a specific disease. This disease has one or
more causes, usually on several levels. Just trying to ease symptoms with
palliative care is not a spiritual solution, although we can use the disease to
practice cheerfulness in adversity.
With our spiritual quest we try to
discover and overcome the causes for the disease. We experiment with nutrition,
cleansing and other natural healing methods, we improve energy flows by
softening armored muscle structures, release suppressed negative emotions, and
we may use regression and reprogramming, guided imagery and meditation. Chances
are that the disease will more or less disappear and at the same time we have
substantially progressed on the spiritual path.
The same is true for any of our
other imperfections and problems, be it a rigid and aging body, lack of meaning
in our life, unsatisfactory relationships, worry and resentments. Just keep
part of your mind in observer mode and be aware of whatever you are doing. If
you catch yourself worrying about something, that is your problem to work on,
worry is a negative attitude and you need to change your approach. Do what you
can to get the problem fixed and then leave it to faith, use prayer and
meditation to strengthen your faith.
If you catch yourself having an
unkind thought about someone, immediately make an effort to send a kind thought
to that person. If you believe someone has harmed you, realize that this person
is just a weak human and needs your help. Be angry if you feel that way but let
it out in a suitable manner, and when you have calmed down, perform a
deliberate mental exercise to forgive and send love. That is the spiritual way;
you can do it all the time.
Learn to laugh about yourself when
you make a silly mistake or break something. You would laugh if it happened to
someone else, try it for yourself, it makes life much easier. Taking ourselves
too seriously shows that we are dominated by our ego.
It is said that no one is an island;
we all are in it together. We interact all the time, and helping our brothers and
sisters is the most important part of interacting. We cannot help by preaching
or trying to convince somebody. The most effective way is to be a living
example of your spiritual beliefs. Try to live as an example. Be forgiving, be
kind, try to do the right thing at the right time but if you mess up, do not
worry, you are not expected to be perfect, try again.
As your consciousness expands, you
may realize that your job or your partner is no longer in harmony with your
beliefs. Visualize and pray for a suitable solution and keep your eyes open.
You do not need to go out of your way to look for opportunities to help others.
Just be aware and do your best whenever you come across something, your
guidance will arrange the opportunities for you to learn and help. Do not blame
yourself or anyone else if something goes wrong, making mistakes is the best
way to learn. We need to make mistakes, learn from them, that is the spiritual path.
Different Paths
Specific ways of life have been
devised through the ages to facilitate the growth of a spiritual body. Foremost
in this are prayer and meditation, especially as part of monastic life. In a
related form we have the yoga of devotion or bakthi
yoga and the yoga of action or karma yoga in which we dedicate our life to
unselfish social work or healing. Also rituals, such as performed by the
Orthodox or Catholic Church and by secret societies and New Age groups, can
provide spiritual food. When we deliberately set out to awaken and build a body
for the inner Christ, we are said to be on the spiritual path.
If you have different ideas about
spirituality, the meaning and purpose of life and the nature of God, just
follow your own beliefs. In order to heal yourself with the methods on this
website it is not necessary to accept my particular philosophy. I only offer it
as a possibility for those who are still searching.